


If Only I was Faster

by whitedandelions



Category: IT (2017), IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Fix-It, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-20 02:51:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20668100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitedandelions/pseuds/whitedandelions
Summary: Richie has enough time to pull Eddie down on top of him inside of the cave, changing everything.





	If Only I was Faster

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I haven’t read the book so this is all based on the movie! I watched the 2nd movie last Saturday, and the 1st movie to refresh my memory right after…really should have watched it before. Anyway, there’s spoilers below so tread forward with caution!

It takes Richie a second, but when he blinks his eyes open, Eddie’s face swims in front of him. He reacts immediately, pulling Eddie flush against him, his own heart beating a mile a minute because hello, his old crush of forever has been reignited these past few days and _Eddie_ is on top of him.

He feels embarrassed and guilty a second later but swallows his words when IT’s claw goes flying above their heads.

“Oh god,” escapes his mouth and Eddie looks down at him.

“I guess that makes us even,” he says, and then there’s not much time for talking as they have to scramble up to dodge.

* * *

Richie still can’t believe they made it out without anyone getting hurt. The others of the Losers’ Club are in just as much shock as he is and jumping off the cliff into the lake almost seems necessary in a way. Their laughter is stilted, but there, and Richie smiles in the face of it all. He’s the comedian, and he should make a joke to lighten the air but his heart’s still not up to it. They could’ve all died today, and yet, they’re all alive. 

Eddie is sitting next to him on the rock, watching the others laugh and celebrate, and it almost seems unreal. He’s so close, pressed up against Richie because the rock is so small with his warmth invading Richie’s body, and all Richie can think about is that Eddie could be dead. Richie could be dead.

In front of them, Beverly and Ben are underwater, and her flash of red hair is visible even with the murkiness of the lake water. They’re kissing.

“Oh,” he says, and he shouldn’t be surprised, he’s known forever that Ben has crushed on Beverly since they were children. He wonders if his crush had ever been that obvious, if everyone knew that he liked Eddie more than he should.

But he knows that they haven’t seen each other in twenty-seven years and that there’s no way any of them could be perceptive enough –

Bill catches his eye. He’s floating in the water, eyes wide and distraught for a second before alighting onto Richie. There’s a pregnant pause in which nothing happens, and then Bill’s eyes cut to Eddie next to him and it’s a clear sign given the things Richie had been thinking about.

Maybe he had been obvious. If even Bill knew…

Bill ducks under the water, making a splash and leaving them alone.

He tries to work up the courage to say anything, to tell Eddie his feelings, when a soft touch on his hand jolts him out of his thoughts.

Eddie intertwines their fingers together and Richie’s heart skips a beat. He can’t say anything, his heart caught in his throat, but it doesn’t seem like his words are needed. Eddie’s heart is beating as fast as his own; he can feel it pressed up against him and it brings a flush to his cheeks.

“I saw you, you know,” Eddie says quietly, so quietly that only Richie can hear him. There’s splashing and there’s not much time at all before the others come back up.

“Saw me?” he parrots, his heart still not calming down and Eddie lets out a soft breath.

“Scratching our initials into the wood,” he says.

There’s no time to reply, even though this is a clear indication that Eddie _knows_, because the others are surfacing. Eddie lets go of his hand, and Richie swallows in the pain it invokes. 

Beverly’s cheeks are flushed and Ben’s eyes are shining and Richie really doesn’t want to examine just how much Eddie’s words hurt him, not when he can tease Ben about finally getting Beverly to realize his feelings.

* * *

They don’t have any time alone together to talk.

Bill wants to get out of town to finish his book, and the others follow suit. Ben is eager to show Beverly his new life and Beverly is just as eager to forget hers. Eddie still has a _wife_ to go back to, even if she was just fulfilling the role of his late mother, and Richie still has a tour of shows that he is obligated to show up to even though he had just narrowly missed a harrowing death.

Mike sees them off, all smiles and relaxed shoulders, and Richie might have hated him a little for bringing them back to this, but he can’t not when he brought back memories of his childhood – of Eddie – of the Losers’ Club. So he hugs Mike when he leaves, and tries not to think about the fact that Eddie knows Richie's gay and loved him since forever and somehow doesn’t think that information is worthy of a conversation.

He buries it down, deep down like he did the past twenty-seven years, and meets his agent with the biggest smile he has in his arsenal.

His agent looks at him, sighs, and then turns to grab Richie’s favorite drink.

* * *

Two weeks later, and Eddie’s in his audience.

Richie trips over his words, his joke falling flat as he stares in horror at Eddie’s smiling face. Eddie must’ve talked to his agent or something, because he’s in the front row and now Richie can’t run away even though there’s nothing more he wanted to do in the world.

He wishes he could’ve forgotten Eddie like he had back then, but no, Eddie’s still fresh in his memory, of how he felt pressed up against him on that goddamn rock and so looking at Eddie now makes his heart ache.

There’s someone booing in the audience, and it jolts him back into the present. 

He takes a deep breath, and because he’s a _professional_ he finishes his set.

* * *

“What are you doing here?” Richie starts out with, and Eddie smiles at him, looking happier than he’s ever seen him.

“I’m coming on tour with you,” he says. And he’s not lying, there’s a suitcase next to him, and Richie falters in his next words.

“What?” is all he can get out, and Eddie takes a deep breath.

“I left my wife,” Eddie says, and then continues before Richie can get a word in, “Because you were right. I was lying to myself this whole time and now that IT’s gone, I can finally be honest. I married a woman just like my mother because I was terrified of living in the real world. And she was just as overbearing as my mother was, and that was the only way I could cope with all the germs and other dangers. 

“I thought that I was going to be miserable for the rest of my life. But back in Derry, I wasn’t scared.” He pauses here, looking Richie directly in the eye, “Because _you_ were there.”

“You were pretty scared,” he can’t help pointing out and Eddie gives him a look before pressing on.

“You still love me,” Eddie says, and it doesn’t sound as if he’s doubting it at all. Richie supposes he can give him this one, since considering they just escaped all kinds of death together, it puts a perspective on things.

“I don’t think I ever stopped, honestly,” he says, and that actually startles a laugh out of Eddie. When Richie opens his arms, Eddie hugs him hard, pressing them almost as close together as they were back when Eddie had almost died in the cave. 

“Me either,” Eddie mumbles into his chest. “I should’ve known when I kept sharing ice cream with you. Never with anyone else.”

“You don’t mind my germs?” he asks, and Eddie looks up at him with a frown, though there’s a faint flush on his cheeks.

“They’re okay, I guess,” he says, and that’s really all the confirmation Richie needs to draw Eddie into a kiss.

* * *

The Losers’ Club meet for Christmas. They’re at Ben’s because Beverly’s found the perfect tree and it’s just as massive as Ben’s mansion. They do Secret Santa and Richie gets Eddie so he has to spend a month hiding it from his boyfriend. 

Bill brings his wife and Mike comes alone, and they have moments when Bill’s wife isn’t in the room, when it’s just the Losers’ Club and they can talk about IT and everything that’s happened in Derry, but it never comes up.

After all, Derry was only a small part of their life; there’s so much more interesting stuff to talk about like how Bill’s finally written an ending that the critics liked and how Richie and Eddie are so deeply in love it’s embarrassing.

They stay until New Year’s, and when the clock strikes twelve, Richie plants a big fat kiss on Eddie’s lips and knows that the next year is going to be the best one yet. 

**Author's Note:**

> I just really wanted a happy ending for Richie, so I ended up writing this. Hope you guys enjoyed! :)


End file.
